The rainy moonlight was dim, yet bright.
Laur's body started to deteriorate. Every second a muscle was torn apart, and then it vanished into thin air.
"This is... my Wrath!"
The ground started to shake violently. Cracks appeared on the ground with every step Roderic walked back. All of a sudden, it stopped. Laur's body completely vanished from existence, yet Roderic had an uneasy feeling.
Growl
"What was that noise?" Roderic muttered as he ran back to help the citizens, the uneasy feeling only getting worse with every passing second.
----------------------
"This kid... from where did he get this strength?" Quinn took a worried stance as he rested his chains.
A red string started to revolve around Leon's sword as he stood there.
...
"Huh? Where am I?..."
Leon's conscious found itself in a dark room. He stood up and rubbed his shoulder. "Last thing I remember..."
"Oh right, I was fighting that man!"
He looked around, only for darkness to be in sight. He took a deep breath.
"Am I... DEAD?!"
He stood confused. Then all of a sudden, a voice came-
"It's me."
Leon looked around in confusion, seeing no one close to him.
"I have taken control of your body."
"My body?" Leon thought as he grew more worried.
"Why... have you taken over my body? And who are you?"
"It's me."
"...'Me'? Is that your name or something?"
Then-
Something clicked inside his mind. He recognised that voice. It... was the Stranger's!
"Stranger?... Is that you...?"
No reply.
"Why have you taken over my body?"
"To save you."
"Save me?"
"Why are you saving... me? And how did you take over my body anyway?" Leon seemed curious and scared, but also felt relief.
"It's the last thing I can do for you, for her."
"Who's her?"
No reply.
...
Quinn raised his chains of eyes high, as he used it to lunge forward.
"This is the end..."
Leon's body moved, the sword had gone dull, but it felt sharp to keen's eye.
Quinn moved his chains, coming out of his hands, it attempted to cut Leon.
Leon's hand moved slowly, but with efficiency. He blocked the chain perfectly.
"How... How are you doing this!" Quinn attacked again, this time he lunged into the air and picked up a boulder with his chains, and threw towards Leon.
His hands moved again, this time the sword was just pointed at the boulder. It broke it perfectly, the parts flew away close to Leon, yet there was not even a scratch on Leon.
"I...-"
Suddenly, the ground started to shake. It ogt more violent by the second.
"Yess! He went an actually did it!" Quinn disappeared, it was like he got absorbed by the ground.
...
"Ah!"
"Am I... back?" Leon started at the raining sky for a second before realisation hit.
"Go save your friend. "
"Stranger? Oh right! Virelle!"
Leon ran towards the rumbles of the boulder where Virelle had been hit to.
"Virelle!"
He called out.
"Virelle!!"
There was no answer.
The rain poured harder, washing mud and blood across the broken ground.
"Virelle!!"
Still no answer.
A cold feeling settled in his stomach.
"No... no, no, no..."
A hand, barely visible beneath a massive boulder.
"Virelle!"
Leon rushed forward and dropped to his knees.
The boulder had pinned her lower body beneath it. Blood mixed with rainwater, forming a red stream that ran through the cracks in the stone. Her hair was stained red, sticking to her pale face.
Her eyes were closed.
Motionless.
For a terrifying moment, Leon thought he was too late.
His trembling hand reached toward her neck.
A pulse. A weak one.
But there was a pulse.
Relief flooded through him.
"Thank the goddess..."
He pressed both hands against the boulder.
"Come on..."
His muscles strained. The stone didn't move. Leon gritted his teeth and pushed harder.
"COME ON!"
The boulder shifted slightly.
With a desperate roar, he forced it aside just enough to pull her free.
Virelle's body collapsed into his arms.
She was covered in cuts and bruises. Blood seeped from a wound on her forehead.
"Virelle..."
His voice cracked.
"You have to stay *huff* alive"
Rain ran down Leon's face as he pushed forward.
Virelle felt heavier with every step.
Or perhaps he was simply running out of strength.
The streets trembled.
The ground started to form several cracks.
growl
"What was that!"
Then another. And another.
...
A crack raced across the stone road ahead. Leon immediately stopped. The ground collapsed inward. For a moment, there was only darkness. Then something climbed out.
His heart nearly stopped.
A creature.
Its silhouette slowly rose from the hole, rain cascading down its body.
The same eyes.
The same kind he had seen before. The same kind responsible for turning Givera into a graveyard.
The creature lifted its head. Looking directly at him. Leon couldn't breathe.
A scream echoed somewhere behind him.
Then another. And another.
The creature took a step forward.
Leon stumbled back.
"No..."
His voice came out weak.
The creature tilted its head.
Watching.
Then another crash echoed through the town. Leon looked to his right. A building had collapsed. From the cloud of dust, another beast emerged.
Then another.
His blood ran cold.
The creatures weren't appearing in one place.
They were everywhere.
Every distant roar.
Every collapsing street.
Every trembling building.
Another one.
Another one.
Another one.
Givera wasn't under attack anymore. Givera had already lost.
Leon slowly turned in a circle. Every direction offered the same answer.
Death.
His arms tightened around Virelle. She remained unconscious.
A bitter laugh almost escaped his lips.
"How..."
The rain hammered against the ruined streets. "How am I supposed to get us out of this...?"
The creature ahead began walking toward him.
As if it already knew the outcome.
Leon took a step back.
His legs felt weak. His chest was hurting. His mind desperately searched for a solution.
There wasn't one.
Leon felt helpless and weak.
Like a single drop of water trying to stop a flood.
The flood was already here.
...
Givera had become a graveyard.
The town that once bustled with commoners, laughter, and everyday quarrels now existed beneath a curtain of rain and smoke. Buildings stood broken and hollow, their shattered remains scattered across streets that no longer resembled streets at all. Fires burned where homes had once stood, their orange glow flickering weakly against the storm.
And everywhere—
Monsters.
Hundreds of them.
They roamed through the destruction like a plague given form.
Some stalked through the ruins with slow, deliberate steps, their eyes were searching for the slightest of movement. Others climbed across collapsed rooftops and broken towers, watching the town from above like carrion birds waiting for the last signs of life to fade.
The sounds of Givera's death echoed from every corner.
The thunder of collapsing stone.
The desperate cries of the wounded.
The growls of the creatures.
The constant pounding of rain.
Together, they formed a dreadful symphony that drowned out reason itself.
Citizens ran through the chaos with terror carved into their faces. Families became separated within moments. Children called for parents they could no longer find. Friends vanished into crowds and smoke. Every person carried the same expression—the desperate realization that safety no longer existed.
Many never reached the northern district.
Some disappeared when the creatures emerged from ruined buildings.
Others simply vanished into the darkness between shattered streets.
The lucky ones never looked back.
Those who did often froze.
And in Givera, hesitation had become a death sentence.
Yet the living continued to move.
Like a river fleeing a flood, survivors poured northward through the ruins. Guards screamed themselves hoarse while directing carts and wagons. Horses kicked and panicked. Wheels struggled through mud and rubble. Every cart was overcrowded long before it was full.
Still people came.
Each carrying what little remained of their lives.
A crying child. An injured parent. A bag of belongings.
Some carried nothing at all.
Above them all, the creatures continued to spread.
From every broken street and every ruined corner, their silhouettes emerged through the storm, turning what had once been a thriving town into little more than a feeding ground.
Givera died slowly.
Not in a single explosion.
Not in a single battle.
It died one street at a time.
The rain continued to fall upon the town as though nothing had changed. The same rain that had watered gardens, washed roads, and lulled children to sleep now dripped from shattered rooftops and broken stone.
The mothers clutched their children closer. The elderly looked toward the ground.
The guards tightened their grips on their weapons.
Nobody spoke. Nobody knew what to say. The sounds grew louder.
And louder.
Louder.
This was Laur's wrath.
The creatures emerged.
One after another.
From beneath homes.
From beneath marketplaces.
From beneath alleyways.
A few simply stood motionless after emerging, staring at the fleeing citizens with eyes that reflected no hunger, no anger, no emotion that could be understood.
Only awareness.
As if they were studying them.
Learning them.
Remembering them.
The most terrifying part was not their appearance.
It was the silence.
Many of them did not attack immediately.
They simply watched.
Entire families would freeze beneath those gazes.
Unable to move.
Unable to understand why the creature wasn't charging.
Why it wasn't killing.
Why it was only staring.
Then the creature would move.
And another scream would join the countless others already echoing across Givera.
Everywhere a survivor looked, something was watching.
Waiting.
The creatures continued to emerge.
Without end.
Without purpose that anyone could understand.
Like a nightmare that had finally found a way to leave the realm of dreams.
And as the rain fell upon the dying town, a dreadful realization spread among the survivors.
The creatures were not invading Givera.
They were inheriting it.